How To Correct Behavior
by Spankbending
Summary: Toph is convinced she's pulling her weight, until Katara decides to pull her over her knee. WARNINGS: SPANKING! Disciplinary, not sexual.


**Alright, time for a requested pairing. I was actually leery of doing this particular combination as one of the first spanking fics I read here was Katara spanking Toph at the end of their memorable argument from _The Runaway. _I try to be as original as possible, so I had to find another excuse for Katara to spank Toph, who becomes the fourth Avatar Girl to be put over a knee courtesy of Spankbending, and the second to be placed over another girl's knee. She will not be the last.**

**As for this story, I originally conceived it as something more comedic, as Katara is such a great motherly figure and Toph is such a great brat. However, let's face it, behind Toph's tough facade, she's got serious mother issues. She craves attention and boundaries and authority, much like any rebel child. But she also wants to know that she's cared for and respected. So this became a lot more serious, and hopefully, more worth reading.**

**Read and review, but don't flame, because the name is Spankbending and you should know what you're in for already.  
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_Is she really just going to set her tent up and let us do all the work AGAIN? _Katara sighed. As if the last couple of days hadn't been stressful enough, Toph was still obstinately refusing to be a contributing member of the group. Oh, she "pulled her own weight" alright, but so did everyone else in the group and they still spread the chores around. _What do I have to do to get her to help? _she wondered.

Taking a deep breath, Katara marched toward the slanted rock tent that Toph was laying down on. She put her hands on her waist and tried to look intimidating...even if the earthbender couldn't see her to be intimidated. She tapped her foot lightly and coughed to get the blind twelve-year old's attention.

"Something bugging you, sweetness?" Toph asked in a way that showed she had no interest.

"Of course something is bugging me, Toph!" Katara responded in a raised voice that was anything but sweet. "I thought we were past all of this."

"Past all of what?" she pried with a quirked eyebrow.

Katara growled in frustration. "Haven't you and I been..." She fumbled for a polite way to say it, "...at odds...for the last two days because you refuse to help around here? All you do is jump off Appa, raise your little rock tent, and lay around while the rest of us do the real work."

Toph groaned with irritated indignation. "Look, Sugar Queen..."

"Don't call me that!" the waterbender snapped, stretching her arms down and balling her fists.

Toph stood up and "looked" her in the face with her iron-toned eyes. "I'll call you whatever I want, _Sugar Queen_!"

Katara leaned in closer so they were nose to nose. "Oh yeah? Well I have a nickname for you, Missy!"

Toph rolled her eyes and folded her arms. "'Missy?' Is that the best you can do?"

Huffing sourly, Katara pointed her right index finger at Toph's nose. "No, I was thinking more along the lines of 'Spoiled Brat!'" she whispered spitefully. She poked Toph's nose at the end of this.

Grimacing bitterly, the earthbender shoved Katara's hand out of her face. "Great, now you're starting to sound like my mother. 'Do your chores, Toph. Behave yourself, Toph. Why are you such a brat, Toph?' Sheesh, what's your problem?" she ranted in annoyed mockery.

Katara blushed brightly and was very grateful that Toph could not see the red in her cheeks. "My problem is the way you've been acting! You're treating this like some kind of vacation where you don't have to work!" she vented. "You...you are lazy and unhelpful and self-absorbed and completely undisciplined!"

Now it was Toph who was blushing with rage. "Well excuse me, Miss High and Mighty!" she said while waving her hands jokingly. "I left home so I didn't have to be disciplined all the time. I came with you so that I can be myself without any parents telling me how I have to act!"

"Well, maybe you need someone to tell you how to act!" Katara countered.

"Who, you?" Toph asked with a snort. "I'm not going to do anything you tell me too, _Mom_!" she said callously. It was very cathartic to be able to say that, since she always had to be the perfect quiet little doll of a daughter for her actual mother. She was relishing this chance to get some of these pent up emotions out.

Katara grunted. She wished that she was Toph's mother. If she had acted anything close to this back at home, her parents would have turned her over a knee in a heartbeat. She wanted so badly to smack some respect into this child that she couldn't stop herself from blurting out the first thought that came to her mind.

"Well then maybe I'll discipline you and make you obey me!" she threatened.

Toph's expression went blank for a second, and then she gave a big belly laugh. "Oh yeah? How are you gonna do that? Ground me? Put me in the corner? Send me to bed without supper?" She was now cackling hysterically, though Katara was hardly joking. "That's a good one, sweetness."

Almost crying from her childish giggling, Toph turned around and started to go into her tent when Katara firmly placed her hand on Toph's shoulder. Toph twisted her head and looked back at Katara.

"No. I have the perfect punishment for a rude, unhelpful, lazy brat like you, Young Lady," Katara corrected matter-of-factly, moving her hand from the shoulder to the wrist and tugging Toph over to a nearby tree stump.

"What? Who do you think you are? You're not that much older than me!" Toph yelled as she was dragged along.

"No, but I'm a lot more mature than you, that's for sure!" Katara scolded as she took her seat on the stump.

Part of her couldn't believe she was about to do this, but she was also very excited about it. And Toph certainly had this coming. So she took a deep breath, and yanked sharply on Toph's arm. The earthbender fell roughly across Katara's knees, and Katara moved her hands to the girl's back. She leaned on her with all of her weight to hold her still.

"Hey!" Toph shrieked. "What are you doing?" She tried to wriggle off of the waterbender's knees, but the older girl applied more pressure and kept her in position. "I don't like this!" she shouted.

"You aren't supposed to like it Toph," Katara chided highhandedly. "This is a punishment, after all!"

Toph fumed. "Well, this isn't any punishment I'm familiar with!" she spat.

_Oh how wonderful, she doesn't know what I'm doing! _the waterbender laughed to herself. _Well, she's definitely in for a surprise!_

Katara bent her left arm at the elbow to cover as much of Toph's back as possible while the little girl squirmed to escape an unknown fate. Then she raised her hand high into the air and brought it down hard on the left side of Toph's skirt. A muffled pop was followed by a surprised gasp. Katara lifted her arm again and swung once more, smacking the right side of Toph's hitherto unpunished bottom. This time Toph let out a little yelp.

"KATARA!" she whined, her unseeing eyes wide open. "What are you doing?"

"This," Katara began, hitting a few more swats in case Toph was at all unsure which "this" she was referring to, "is called a spanking. _Children_ who misbehave deserve to be spanked." Katara put special emphasis on the word children so as to belittle Toph. "And it is long overdue in your case!" she affirmed before resuming what would be a rather painful ordeal for the young earthbender.

Toph was continuing to struggle aimlessly over Katara's knees. If she had her wits about her, Toph might have used her bending to escape, but the older girl's bold action had shocked her, and the fact that her buttocks were getting smacked proved to be a more than adequate distraction. As she was punished, she started to wince and bite her lip, and she couldn't help but kick her legs a little.

After about a minute of administering hard, rhythmic swats, Katara raised Toph's skirt so that she could see Toph's bottom more clearly. Her pants were resting on the small curves; at the age of twelve, her victim's bottom was halfway between a child's and a woman's. The waterbender raised her right leg so that her foot rested on the stump, turning Toph's body into something of a triangle. The girl groaned in discomfort but otherwise did not complain. So Katara returned to spanking the insolent brat, aiming the new smacks to the undercurve of her bottom.

As Toph felt the wrath of her spanker, she took to it with relative silence. She could not stop from letting out little grunts and moans that had to express how effective the slaps were. But she did not say anything. No over the top whining, no demanding or begging for Katara to stop. Almost like a stone, Toph was being unnaturally submissive and open to this new experience.

"Toph, do you know why I'm spanking you?" the waterbender asked.

"Owww...huh?" she answered instinctively. It was like she had been pulled out of a trance, and indeed, this whole spanking business felt surreal to the blind girl of noble birth.

"Why am I spanking you, Young Lady?" Katara reiterated.

_Young Lady? _Toph thought. That was a phrase she only heard when she was in trouble, but she hadn't expected to be in trouble with a girl only two years her elder. A harder spank pulled her out of her thoughts. "Oh...um, because I'm not helping you and the boys set up camp, right?" she asked, unsure if there was another reason.

Katara gave her several harder spanks. "That, and your attitude sucks. You are selfish and rude and unpleasant. We don't deserve that, Toph Bei Fong!" Katara used her full name for emphasis.

Hearing her last name made Toph feel very much like a little girl. Pouting, she started to feel guilty about her behavior as Katara continued to punish her. She gulped, and then stammered. "I-I'm sorry, Katara."

The waterbender smiled. She was pleasantly surprised that Toph was behaving herself whilst over her knees; she had expected more of a fight. Then again, Katara had always became contrite and obedient when her parents decided she needed to be put in her place. Perhaps this spanking was exactly what Toph needed to change her attitude.

"Your apology is accepted, Toph," she said, patting Toph's smarting cheeks lightly and affectionately. "However, I want you to understand that your behavior is unacceptable and I will not tolerate it."

Toph bit her lip. She felt like a baby, getting scolded like this. But somehow, she was okay with it, and even _glad_ that it was happening. Despite her parents' annoyingly constant supervision, she rarely ever got in trouble, and then she was just sent to her room so they didn't have to deal with her.

But Katara _was _dealing with her. She had actually taken it upon herself to discipline Toph in a very personal manner. The earthbender had not been sent to her room, but punished in a way that required Katara's presence and her undivided attention. Toph couldn't help but smile; she was the center of Katara's attention! And so, even with a stinging posterior, she could not bring herself to be mad. She was grateful.

"Yes Ma'am, I understand," she answered with complete sincerity.

Katara could hardly believe Toph had called her 'Ma'am.' It seemed she was making quite the impression on Toph with this spanking. _If only I had done this sooner! _she mused. But the waterbender had already decided that the punishment was not over. Since this would probably be the only spanking she ever gave Toph, she had to make it count.

"Toph, I want to be sure you learn your lesson well," she lectured with an air of superiority. "So I am going to spank you a while longer."

The little girl pouted. This was going to continue? It wasn't all that bad, but she felt that Katara was still angry with her and that made her upset. Still, not wanting to upset her further, Toph decided to cheerfully submit.

"Okay Ma'am, if you want to keep spanking, I won't stop you."

Katara felt incredibly empowered upon hearing those words. Toph wasn't going to fight her? That was quite lovely. But what really stuck out to Katara were the words, "if you want to." Did she want to spank Toph? She had to admit, even if it was about making Toph more agreeable, she was definitely enjoying this. It was very fun to be punishing a little brat that needed it.

Katara had a flashback to when she was little and getting spanked by her mother. In particular, she remembered a time she got in trouble for playing all day instead of helping with the house chores. For that spanking, her mother had pulled her panties down and spanked her on her bare bottom, and the little water tribe girl was much more careful to do her chores from then on.

Since her mother was such an effective disciplinarian, Katara decided to follow her example.

"Toph, I am going to pull your pants and panties down," she declared, leaving no room for argument. "The rest of your spanking will be on your bare bottom."

The earthbender's eyes went wide. _No panties? What's that about? _She felt Katara's fingernails press against her skin as they grabbed the top of her undergarments. Blushing as the cool mid-evening air touched her exposed skin, Toph whimpered at the indecent exposure. This was just plain embarrassing!

Except it wasn't _just _embarrassing. Once her clothes were nicely settled at her knees, Katara renewed her disciplinary attack on Toph's rear end. It dawned on the earthbender that those pants protected much more than her dignity. Being spanked with her pants stung, but getting it on the bare _really_ hurt, and Toph was no longer able to restrain herself. She started to sob pathetically, tears flowing from her closed eyes.

The waterbender was not going easy on Toph. The younger girl's skin had a much lighter complexion than Katara's, and as the blistering smacks increased in number, her sitting spots became a bright cherry red. It was much different than the water tribal, whose copper bottom turned to a dark brown when she had been spanked by her parents. Katara realized she could use this change in complexion as a barometer for how thorough she was in her discipline. Well, that and Toph's increasingly louder cries.

After about two minutes of continuous swats, Toph was laying limp and weeping softly. Her backside was hot and stinging sharply, as if she was being pierced with fiery needles. Mentally, she was feeling a mixture of embarrassment and contrition. She knew that she probably should be mad at Katara for exposing and hitting her like this, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it. All she wanted was for the older girl to no longer be upset with her...it was a strange, difficult to explain feeling.

As the girl over her lap kept contemplating, Katara had decided that she had been sufficiently spanked. Her hand stopped flying through the air and instead gently pulled Toph's panties over her burning cheeks. The younger girl winced as the cloth came into contact with the smarting flesh, but the older quietly hushed her before pulling her pants back up as well. She took her foot from the stump and placed it back on the ground, leaving the earthbender flat and still over her lap.

Toph had a few more sobs that she had to let out before she wiped her tears on her arm. "May I get up, Katara?" she asked politely.

"Did you learn anything?" Katara inquired.

"I need to help with the chores," Toph answered without hesitation.

"Good girl," her spanker complimented, and Toph smiled with embarrassed happiness. "You may get up."

Sliding off Katara's knees, Toph noticed that the throbbing sting was starting to turn into a dull ache. Still a little self-conscious, she rubbed one chastised cheek, the whole time keeping her face pointed towards Katara's.

"I...also learned that spankings are not very much fun," she said with careful cheekiness.

Katara giggled and Toph felt a rush of relief. "No, they aren't."

Toph nodded and kept massaging her sore spots through the three layers of clothing. She was in a very strange state of mind. Katara had dragged her, quite literally, into the role of a well-punished young girl who knew that she deserved what she got. This role was filled with several emotions: guilt, embarrassment, relief, and strangely a sense of peace, as if a massive wall had been removed from the two girls and they could understand each other better.

"Um...is there anything I can do to help?" the earthbender asked, unsure how to contribute to the group.

Katara scratched her chin for a second. "Hmm...could you gather up firewood?"

Toph nodded and started to walk away. Then, she suddenly stopped. For some reason, she had this...need. She couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was, but she knew how to take care of it. Hesitantly, she turned around to face the waterbender once more.

"Katara?" she prodded, slightly above a whisper.

"Yes, Toph?" the girl answered sweetly.

Shuffling her feet and clearing her throat, Toph took a deep breath. "Can I...can I have a hug?" she asked.

Katara was surprised by Toph's request, as she really hadn't taken "The Blind Bandit" as the touchy-feely type. However, she was a caring person and would never turn away a chance to comfort someone. "Of course, Toph," she answered, stretching her arms out in welcome.

Toph was still unable to hold her head high as she walked over to meet Katara's embrace. The three steps felt much longer, but once she met the warmth of a tunic and felt the soothing comfort of Katara's arms, Toph's insecurities disappeared and she tightly hugged Katara around the waist and leaned her head against her rib cage. The waterbender responded by gently stroking Toph's hair.

And now, Toph realized what she had needed. Closure. This hug meant that she and Katara were okay with each other, that she was forgiven and everything was going to be fine. Somehow, Toph knew that she never would have been able to experience this emotion if Katara had not spanked her. And then she realized she was actually happy to have someone looking out for her, caring enough about her to not let her act like a brat. Rebellion was part of Toph's nature, but she did want to at least try to improve her behavior for Katara's sake, since she had invested this time in correcting her.

"Is everything okay?" the older girl asked with concern.

"Yeah," she answered unconvincingly.

"Are you sure?"

Toph sighed. "Katara...I really am sorry for being rude and self-absorbed and unhelpful. I'm not trying to be mean, but sometimes I just can't help acting like that. I don't know what's wrong with me."

Katara laughed in a low tone that somehow wasn't condescending. "Nothing is wrong with you Toph. You're just acting like a twelve year old girl, that's all. Nobody's perfect. There's just some things you're going to have to work on, you know?"

The younger girl nodded. "I...I'm going to try to be good," she said with a hopeful smile, but then she frowned almost immediately. "But...I think I'm going to need some help." Her head bowed and she grasped at the grass with her toes.

"What sort of help?" Katara asked slyly.

Toph had a feeling she knew already, which made this already awkward conversation even more unnerving. She bit her lower lip and put her hands behind her back. "Well..." she began.

"Toph," Katara interjected. "Do you want me to spank you when you get too out of line?"

The twelve-year old's facial cheeks blushed as bright as her bottom cheeks. Katara had spared her the embarrassment of asking for it, but now gave her the embarrassment of affirming it.

"Well, I don't WANT you to," she said, holding her hands out. "After all, it hurt. I didn't like it one bit, but..." her voice trailed off.

"Yesss?"

Toph winced. "Just...don't hesitate to discipline me if you think I need it. I'll cooperate."

Katara hugged Toph a little more tightly. "Anything you need, Toph."

"Thanks," she muttered in a barely audible but quite sincere whisper. She knew that her relationship with Katara had changed drastically. But she felt very positive about it, and decided that it would be a long time before Katara's abilities as a spanker would be used again.


End file.
